Tips on removing Exhaust Manifold bolt??

I have a '97 with the 5.4. I noticed a ticking noise when cold and thought possible exhaust leak. After searching the forum and seeing the number of broken bolt issues, I was even more convinced this was probably my issue. Sure enough the last bolt on the back cylinder, driver's side is broken off clean at the manifold. Also the manifold to exhaust pipe flange bolts are almost completely rusted away. Any tips on removing the broken bolt? I'm thinking I probably need to remove the whole manifold to get the old bolt out and address the flange bolts, but I hate to risk breaking more bolts off in the head.

I'm thinking I probably need to remove the whole manifold to get the old bolt out and address the flange bolts, but I hate to risk breaking more bolts off in the head.

Your best bet is to remove the whole manifold and replace all studs, bolts, and nuts. Fortunately the studs holding the manifold on will back out fairly easy, even if you break them. Once the manifold is removed, more often than not you can turn the studs out by hand.

Remove both the driver's front wheel and the wheel well skirt to open the area up. It's not as bad of a job as it might appear.

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Thanks for the tips. I think you are correct. I tired welding a nut onto the stud, but so far I haven't been able to get any real strong weld onto the stud. It does look like there is a fair amount of room with the wheel and fender flap removed.

I guess I am one of those that the "turn the remainder of the bolt out by hand" didn't work. It really was a PITA and I was doing passenger side. I had 3 bolts break off. 2 broke off flush with the head and the other one stuck out about 1/2 inch. Guess which one wouldn't back out and which ones did? You got it, the two that were broke off flush with the head I was able to get out with an easy out after drilling. Oh yeah, I had to drive 60 miles to buy one of the right angle air drills to get those 3 bolts out. What a day that was. Yeah, then there was that one that had 1/2 inch sticking out. Well, the easy out broke, eventually got the piece out. Then drilled a bigger hole. The next easy out wasn't going to remove it either. So drill it out so I could rethread it. I drilled the right size for an 8mm 1.25 thread and wouldn't you know it, the little sliver pieces started coming out. I didn't damage the threads in the head and was able to thread the stud into it without problems. Time into at this point - 4 hours and that is without the 2 1/2 round trip time spent buying the drill. No one had it closer and it was worth the drive to buy and Ingersol Rand right angle drill brand spanken new on sale for 50% off retail. Finally, ready to reassemble. Well, maybe I should have looked at the exhaust manifold a little more closely. It wasn't going to work. The surfaces were too corroded so off to NAPA and order one. Why don't they stock these I will never know. Pick up the next am(Saturday). Used all Ford gaskets, studs and nuts and it went back together fairly well. No leaks. I can't imagine doing the drivers side. It was a little difficult with the rear heat & a/c lines in the way. Can't imagine the steering and that EGR pipe to remove. Just so the drivers side doesn't start ticking. Oh, then there was the steering and suspension parts that were replaced because the wheel shouldn't move like that when you start torquing the lug nuts by hand. Tie rod later it's better and then those upper control arms/ball joints were bad. What's another trip up to NAPA right. All said and done, this job cost me $600 with parts and that drill. Sorry, forgot to mention the battery light came on when I started it when I was all done to check for leaks. No way, it was fine 2 days ago. Alternator crapped out just sitting. This was supposed to be a manifold replacement but ended up being a lot more. I checked the whole truck over 2 months ago before I left on 2500 mile trip. Everything was tight. Those parts wore fast once they started. So my advice is as long as you are into it and working on it, give everything a good once over. Check the upper/lower ball joints, tie rod ends and that idler arm on the right side frame. Never know, maybe the battery light will come on and you will have to replace the alternator too.

Why are you waiting? The exhaust leak will eat away at the surface of the exhaust port in the head. Then when you go and fix it the exhaust gasket will not seal and the only solution will be to replace the head.

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Why are you waiting? The exhaust leak will eat away at the surface of the exhaust port in the head. Then when you go and fix it the exhaust gasket will not seal and the only solution will be to replace the head.

Agreed, that is a real possibility if the leak is in the area of the manifold to head mating area. The headaches you are facing now are small compared to a head replacement. Just finish the job and be done with it. A nice thing about working with an aluminum head is that they are not too difficult to repair. If you do wallow out the hole you can just install a Helicoil or re-tap it to a larger size and get on with your life. GIT 'ER DONE!!

hi gentlemen , just went through the same thing on a 7.3 diesel, two bolts broke off flush with the head. had to drill them out. my question is on one of the holes I used a slight to big of bit!!! after retapping, the bolt is a little loose, have about half of the thread depth it should have. can I go to the next size tap and recut and use a 7/16 bolt instead of the 3/8 ??? the holes in the manifold will allow the larger bolt. (cast iron heads)

The difference between 3/8 and 7/16 is 1/16 in diameter or 1/32 off each side of the bolt hole. To give you an idea of how small the difference is, an average toothpick is 1/16 in diameter. So you'd be taking half the diameter of a toothpick off each side of the hole. With that image in your head, take another look at the bolt hole and you should be able to visualize if there is enough material to drill the larger hole.

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